


The Wisdom to Change

by Up_sideand_down



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Prequel, Sheikah Link (Legend of Zelda), gerudo zelda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22220323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Up_sideand_down/pseuds/Up_sideand_down
Summary: Zelda meets a strange boy in the desert she calls home, and it sets in motion something that she knows has to be destiny. But does she have to be trapped in a cycle, or can she and Link take charge of it themselves.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My sibling inspired this AU and I've been working on it forever. I intended it to be a one-shot, but I have a feeling it's really about 3 chapters. 
> 
> Check out the art my rad sibling DoctorBeanes made for me though at the end of this chapter. I also linked the image to her tumblr if you want to share it.

Zelda brushed her hands on her pants as she looked eastward. If she concentrated hard enough…she could make out the crooked spires in the distance. She’d had the dream again. Walking along a stone hallway and being between two windows. One looked out towards the very cliff she had climbed. The other looked between the two towers, standing tall and straight as soldiers. 

She’d begged for any stories about those towers. They’d been crooked for as long as she could remember and were slowly falling more and more as the years passed. That and there wasn’t much to tell…despite the dreams saying there had to be more. 

“There was a castle there,” her mother said, looking out over Gerudo Town, “Then came a calamity…and everyone inside died.” She knew her mother was imagining the same thing happening here, to their town, when she shuddered. Zelda never could explain how she knew that. 

But things had changed. The Hylians didn’t have a castle anymore. Instead they seemed fairly content with their villages. The Rito had theirs, the Gorons had theirs, and now the Gerudo just stayed in their desert when not looking for husbands. That was what made Zelda sigh. Sometimes it seemed she really only had 2 options in life: Stay in the desert…or find a husband. Neither option mentioned her going on some sort of adventure or building something she doodled in her journal. Her mother said it was a diary, but to Zelda it was a journal, a place to draw out the machines she could see in her mind. 

Neither option offered an explanation as to why she had very vivid dreams about walking around in a castle that had been demolished centuries ago. 

But this is as far as she could let herself go. To a cliff at the edge of the desert where she could just barely see that window she looked out of in her dreams. 

* * *

Zelda only felt a little guilty as she snuck out of the back of Gerudo town with a wild Sandseal. No one really was around this area save for one guard…and she had no desire for the lessons of the day. She could already hear the lecture for that evening in her mind. 

_You’re next in line to be chief,_ her mother would say, _you can’t go running off to caves when you’re Gerudo chief!_ Zelda hated that argument, mostly because she was too terrified to admit she didn’t want to be Gerudo Chief. She would never measure up to her mother. She saw things in too much black and white while her mother always saw everything. When Zelda looked over Gerudo Town, over the city that her mother built…she only saw the ruin she was going to run it into. 

The Sandseal seemed amicable enough to towing her about. She kept her balance as she pulled out her map of the desert. The roaming sandstorms limited her options, but thought she had figured out the signs if they were going to form at all. If she was right, then she should be able to explore the boneyard today. She steered carefully, her eyes on the clouds waiting for them to change and swallow her up. They never did. She sailed onwards. Rib bones taller than the city walls started to loom over her. She knew it was time to let go when she saw more seals tanning in the sand. Her own moved over to join then, snorting ever so happily. 

She craned her head up to look at the skeleton she was inside of…then turned. It was just a speck now…but she knew what that was. That was a person riding a sandseal coming her way. She frowned. Probably Teema coming after her. She could take care of herself. Baria didn’t have to send her mother’s bodyguard after her. She turned back, determined to make the most of today. 

She jogged towards the head, unable to make herself stop from looking behind her. Then she slowed and squinted. She pulled out the telescope she made last week…and looked. 

That was not Teema…or Baria…that was a voe. 

She ran now. If she was alone she would have spent more time in awe at the giant plant she found in the middle of this desert, but for now it made a good hiding spot. She heard the seal slow and stop. She heard footsteps in the sand. She peered around the edge. 

He was certainly unlike any voe she’d seen hanging around the town. Not all bound up head to toe. He even had his face covered in a light colored scarf. That was the only light thing about his outfit. The rest was a dark blue, a faded red crying eye on his chest. 

She’d seen that symbol in a book. It was the Sheikah sign. They were a tribe who lived way out east even more east than the castle ruins. Why in Hylia’s Sweet Graces was he here. He seemed to be looking for something. For her maybe? To her horror he approached the plant. Then he…knocked?

“ _Boy…sweet boy…”_ a voice echoed inside, “ _I was once the Great Fairy Tera…”_

Zelda almost started. She’d read that name. She’d heard of the Great Fairies, that people came from far and wide to visit them. Perhaps the storms made people stop visiting Tera. 

“ _Just 1,000 rupees,”_ she continued, “ _that’s all I need. I can help you boy.”_ she couldn’t hear what he said. 

“ _Oh…I see…thank you for trying.”_ Zelda heard the footsteps retreat. Then she heard a seal shout and take off. She peered out again, he was leaving. She waited until he was a speck again before coming back out. She looked at the front of the plant again. There certainly were some faded mushrooms that looked kind of like steps. Perhaps this was a fairy spring. She stepped up herself and knocked. 

“I have 1,000 rupees,” she said. A hand suddenly emerged, almost as big as she was. 

_“Give it here quick!”_ A fleeting thought that this might be dangerous crossed Zelda’s mind…but she handed over the money. 

* * *

Tera was nothing like Zelda imagined, but she had a lot of very interesting and old armor in her Spring. She even told Zelda she could come back and she would strengthen any other armor she had, free of charge. Made it worth the scolding. 

* * *

The Heroines was a spot Zelda visited often. She didn’t feel any particular connection to the towering columns…except that their stony faces felt a little bit like old friends. Some of the historians in town came here too, to further the excavations, but most of the time Zelda was alone. 

Until she heard the sandseal. She really thought it was Teema this time. She had told her mother she wanted to visit here so it made sense. But when she turned around she saw thevoe. He seemed startled that she saw him. 

He waved. 

But Zelda felt a bit of panic in her chest again. She didn’t know why. Teema taught her how to defend herself well enough. And she was a good foot taller than him. She decided it must be because she didn’t know much about the Sheikah. Except for the rumors that some Sheikah had broken off and formed another group. The Yeesha? The Yoogoo? The Yoyos? Shecouldn’t remember the name. 

But Zelda stomped off to her own actual seal, Patricia, and set off back for Town. She glanced behind. 

He was following her. 

Zelda urged on Patricia a bit. Patricia didn’t let her down and picked up the speed. Zelda kept calm as she walked through the gates. She jumped when she heard the guard’s spear strike the ground. 

“Voes are not allowed inside the city,” she said, “you can go to the Bazaar back there in the oasis if you want to do business.”

He nodded. He saw her staring again. 

He waved. 

* * *

Apparently the rogue Sheikah were calling themselves the Yiga. And they were dangerous. Claimed to support some sort Calamity and had hoped that the Gerudo would aid them since the Calamity had been a Gerudo at one point. Zelda still hadn’t quite figured out that bit. 

Zelda’s mother said no…with much more colorful words. The gate guards that day were still recovering, but alive. 

Shockingly it had been Teema’s idea for Zelda to join the survey teams. Zelda swore her mother would keep her nice and safe in Gerudo Town. 

“It would be good for her,” Teema offered, “she knows how to defend herself and she gets to do something good for her people, like you keep asking her to.” And Zelda’s mother relented. 

Zelda knew with her luck either nothing at all would happen…or she would get ambushed by these Yiga. 

And it was her lucky day…it was the latter. And there were three of them. 

They were nothing at all like training with Teema or Baria. These guys were like playing with kids compared to Teema and Baria. Besides, Zelda had been trained with one golden rule in her mind: Never drop your spear. Hit hard? Tripped and fell? Got electrocuted? Don’t drop your spear. And Zelda did not. 

She swept the dull end out as one tried to swipe at her with her sickle. He tumbled to the ground…and then ass over tea kettle down the hill they were on. 

The second avoided the same trick and then her short stab…but not her right hook. She punched him square in the jaw, just like Teema taught her. Down the hill he went. One to go. Zelda caught the sickle on the teak of her spear. He tugged and she did not relent. Then they paused. 

Was that a…scream?

They both looked up. A flash of blue landed directly on top of the Yiga. Zelda broke the rule and dropped the spear. 

The Sheikah boy had fallen off the cliffs right on top of her enemy. He rolled over and got up. The Yiga just laid there. Zelda and the Sheikah stared at each other for a long moment. He scratched the back of his head. Then he gave a small wave. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked. He shrugged. She rolled her eyes and started to turn. His hand touched her shoulder. It took a second of his hand motions for her to realize something important. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I don’t understand sign very well.” He nodded and stopped. Then he picked up her hand. He seemed engrossed with it. 

“What?” Zelda said, “I don’t know what you want.” He took off his own glove. He showed her the back of his hand. Then she knew. 

He had a birthmark on his hand in the shape of a perfect triangle. 

It was a perfect match to the mark Zelda had on her hand. 

* * *

_I had dreams about you_ , the words were written quite nicely in the sand. Zelda noticed he couldn’t quite meet her eye when he wrote that. She didn’t think it was that creepy, after all she had weird dreams too. 

“What did you see about me?” she asked. He took her spear and started writing again. 

_I see a Hylian woman in a dress. She looks like you. Then she changes into a Gerudo. Into you._

“Am I in a castle?” she asked. 

_The Hylian woman is. You are always here._

“I have dreams where I’m in a castle,” she says, “It’s those ruins east from here. I’m inside them, but they’re all standing right. I never see people though. It always ends before I get to the end of the hall.” They passed a moment just looking out into the distance, looking back east. She could hear the others starting to come back to this rendezvous point. 

“I’m Zelda,” she said holding out her hand. He wrote in the sand with his finger, while using his other hand to shake hers 

_Link_

* * *

No one really looked twice at Zelda buying clothes. Only the shopkeepers noticed that they were the wrong size and they brushed it off. The chiefs daughter was well known for her ideas…and most of them worked out pretty well too. They simply assumed it was another idea. 

Link, however, was not the biggest fan of this idea. 

“They’re not gonna let you in looking like that,” Zelda told him, “If you want in, you have to look like a vai.” Link only gave her a despairing look before walking sadly behind a rock. Zelda decided to ask him later how he got his Sheikah clothes to fit inside his pack. 

“You’re cute!” Zelda said. Link blushed horribly and signed almost a little too fast for her to understand. She was picking it up nicely. She was always good with languages. 

“No you don’t look stupid,” she said, “you look like a nice Hylian vai trying out the Gerudo outfits. We see them all the time. You look cute and no one will notice.” 

Zelda walked through the gates first nodding the guards. 

“Enjoy your visit,” the guards said to Link as he passed through. Zelda winked at him. 

He certainly loved the main market and Zelda had to drag him away to keep him from going from food stall to food stall. He did eventually let her drag him to the statue after she got him one of the meat and mushroom skewers. (And she had to admit they were really good). 

“Do you hear anything?” she asked him. He stopped eating and listened carefully. Zelda closed her eyes. It was less than a whisper…but then she heard…

_Zelda…_

Link shook his head. 

“Oh,” Zelda said, “Sometimes I swear I hear her say my name.” Link stared at the statue more. He took a serious bite of his skewer. 

“She looks like you,” he signed. Zelda raised an eyebrow at that. 

“You think I look like the goddess Hylia?” she said. 

“You have the same smile,” he said. Zelda laughed at that. 

“You don’t have to lie to me,” Zelda said, “not all he weird things about us have to be similar.”

“I am serious,” he said, “you have Hylia’s smile.”

* * *

Zelda swallowed when they were caught. Her mother pinched her nose while Baria eyed Link suspiciously. 

“Tell me why I should not have him thrown out right now Zelda,” her mother said, “you know our laws. _No voes in Gerudo Town_.” Both of them looked to each other, wondering where to start. Link finally made a move and showed them the back of his hand. It only took a moment for Zelda to realize it wasn’t his best move. Zelda’s mother looked enraged…but to Zelda’s surprise it was Baria who held her back. 

“I told you when she was born that you could not stop it from happening,” Baria said, “the calamity always comes and they are always here to stop it.” 

“Stop what?” Zelda said. 

“Calamity Ganon,” her mother said. 

* * *

Both of them sat in the main hall in front of her mother’s chair as Baria explained the pieces of History that no one would tell them before. 

“Three goddesses made the world,” Baria said, “and when they left, a treasure was left behind.” Baria drew it before them. 

“The triforce," she said, “who ever used it would be granted their hearts desire. Obviously a powerful and dangerous thing to have, so it was locked away to keep it from being used. But it only worked for so long.

“Legends say that Calamity Ganon was a Gerudo. He was a male Gerudo, born every 100 years and he was named the leader of them. He sought the Triforce of himself. And he got to it somehow. But at his touch it shattered. He only had a piece of it, but it was only a piece that he needed. But not all was lost. Two other pieces remained. One went to a Hylian Princess. The other went to a boy from the forest. The Princess and the Warrior fought back Ganon and imprisoned him.”

“And he became a Calamity?” Zelda asked. 

“He came back,” Baria said, “Over and over, each time losing a piece of what he once was. What he is now I cannot say. But each time…the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage reappear.” 

“Is that us?” Link asked Zelda. 

“As much as we don’t want it to be,” Baria answered, “We think it’s you.”

* * *

Zelda could feel her mother’s eyes at her back. There were a thousand things she wanted to say, but none of them were the right thing to say. She was sorry for a lot of things: sorry for not setting a good example for her people, sorry for not taking her mother’s advice seriously all the time, sorry most of all that she wasn’t going to be the next chief. 

Instead she was leaving the desert entirely and she wasn’t certain at all about what she was about to find. 

“I have no idea what the Sheikah think about us now,” her mother said at last, “We brought them Ganon…but we’ve also had Sages to fight him.”

“Link says that a woman named Impa might be able to tell us more,” Zelda said. Her mother nodded. 

“I met her once,” she said, “she’s honest and fair. She’s a good ally if you need one…but I don’t know how many would listen to her.” Zelda swallowed as she felt the overwhelming urge to hug her mother. She didn’t feel it often. Her mother smiled and opened her arms. Zelda held on tight. 

“Where ever your journeys take you,” she said, “You will always be welcome here. Every vai in Gerudo Town is your ally.”

* * *

She left with her mother’s bow. It was her prize weapon. Zelda promised to bring it back someday


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Zelda and Link wander through Hyrule to Kakariko, Zelda is startled by how much the rest of Hyrule...just feels like home.

Zelda turned away as Link talked to the voe in the stable. A lot of heads turned away when they realized she was looking back. Except for one. 

“Sav’sabba!” he pronounced cheerfully, despite the heavy pack on his back. 

“Sav’sabba,” she replied, still wary. 

“The world knows me as Beedle,” he said, “buyer and seller of all wares!” 

“So a merchant?” Zelda said. 

“Of sorts,” he said, “I noticed you have a bow and I have a lot of arrows.” Link was grinning at her. 

“I’ll buy some arrows,” she said. Beedle lit up, pulling down a counter from somewhere in his giant sac. 

“Oh I knew destiny pulled me towards the desert!” he said. 

“Beedle is the best,” Link signed behind Beedle, no doubt waiting his own turn. 

* * *

Zelda shied back at the horse Link was holding the reins to. 

“They’re older and sweeter, but they’ll get us to Kakariko Village,” Link said, careful not to let the reins flap in front of the horses. 

“I’ve never ridden a horse before,” she said. 

“You just have to earn their respect and trust,” Link said, “they will carry you forever.” Link held out an apple to her. Both horses perked up at the sight of it. Link set the fruit into her hands. She looked at the two horses. She held it out to the bigger of the two. He sniffed at it a moment before taking it gently from Zelda’s hand. 

It took longer for Zelda to get used to being up on a horse and stop worrying about crushing the poor thing beneath her. She was bigger than Link. She needn’t have worried. Pollo carried her as if she weighed nothing at all. He seemed happy to go on for miles…especially since Zelda had a knack for picking him up all sorts of apples. 

The place they stopped to camp was greener than any place Zelda had ever been. The grass scratched and tickled in a way she hadn’t expected and she was suddenly grateful for the bedrolls and blankets Beedle had sold them. There were no familiar cliffs here, no sand. Just strange hills that rolled with the land instead of being blown with the wind. 

But despite all the differences, when she looked up at the sky, all the stars were still in the same place. It was still Hyrule. 

But what kept Zelda from laying down, wasn’t the new grass or the strange hills, or even the same starry sky. 

What kept her awake…was the feeling that she wasn’t away from home at all. She couldn’t figure out why that felt so wrong. 

* * *

They rode on before the sun rose, neither sleeping well. Link complained of weird dreams, Zelda just couldn’t turn her mind off. Her fingers itched to write something down, but her journal was at the bottom of her pack. 

The hills flattened out to a plain dotted with copses of trees. She and Link kept themselves occupied by moving from tree to tree to pick up more apples. Pollo was more than game to play along. 

“He’s warmed right up to you,” Link told her, “you could have twice the weight on him and he’d kept on going for you.”

“I’m not very good with animals,” Zelda told him, “I’m just trying to make up for it.”

“He’s a happy guy,” Link assured her. 

“Halfway through the plain Link stopped. Zelda saw what he was staring at. How could she not, that horse was huge. Even for a Gerudo it was big. 

“One day,” Link said, “I’m going to catch that horse and it’s going to let me ride it.” Zelda used to his signing chatter about horses, suddenly coughed out a laugh. The giant horse ran off with a small herd of regular sized horses. Link frowned at her. 

“Sorry,” she said, “I just imagined him bucking you off.” Then she laughed more at the face Link made. 

“You’ve tried it?!” she said, “He did?!”

“One day,” Link said, frown not leaving his face, “I’m getting that horse.”

“Well,” Zelda said catching her breath with a sigh, “when you do, I’ll cheer you on.” That perked Link up again more and he ignored her little bouts of giggles as she thought up images of little Link getting knocked off that enormous horse.

* * *

Zelda stopped suddenly. It took Link half a second to stop with her. She was exactly south of the Castle Ruins, an angle she had never seen before. She was also next to the biggest body of water she had ever seen in her life. it was just a Lake, but it stretched on almost to the mountains they were moving to. She wasn’t sure which one she wanted to look at more: the lake that went forever, or to find the tower she stood in in her dreams. 

All of it took her breath away. 

She snapped back to reality when she felt Link next to her. 

“Sorry,” she said, “I’ve never seen a place like this.”

“We’re not far from the old Castletown,” Link told her, “we’re actually on the Castletown road. It will take us straight to Kakariko.”

“What does Kakariko look like?” Zelda wondered. 

“You’ll have to see,” Link signed, as always a man of few words, “but this Lake is nothing. Lake Hylia is bigger.”

“There’s more lakes?!” Zelda said. Link laughed at her now

* * *

Zelda pulled out her mother’s bow just before they crossed under the “Dual Peaks.” It wasn’t a long or hard fight, just two Lizalfos hiding along the road, to ambush the unwary. Zelda took down one without even dismounting Pollo. Link jumped down to take on the other by hand. 

They took over the Lizalfos camp for the evening. 

Zelda ran her hand down her mother’s bow one more time. It was a great weapon, smooth and shot with ease. It really was a prize. Then she turned back to the cooking pot sizzling away. 

“Where did you learn how to fight?” Zelda asked. 

“Sheikah start training when we’re young,” Link said, “Most of us can fight when needed, but usually don’t go looking. I was a bad student like that.”

“How?” Zelda asked. 

“Never stopped training for chores,”Link said, “Kept sneaking out for ‘patrols’, always looking for trouble and finding it.”

“I wasn’t a good student either, then” Zelda said, “except I was always ready toslack off in training to go run around the desert. Pay attention in other classes only to sneak out and find more about what they taught…” She paused to stir the sautéing mushroom bowls they were having for dinner. Link’s eyes hardly left them. He was always hungry, Zelda was quickly learning. 

“I’m starting to wish I was a better student,” she said. Link put a hand on her shoulder. 

“You’re Wisdom,” he said, “Wisdom doesn’t come from books, or being a good fighter, or being a good student. Wisdom comes from experience. You went out to find it. You’re fine.”

* * *

Zelda felt the canyons were familiar. they did remind her of home, of the desert that had theses same rock walls all along the roads to home, but they weren’t this green. She looked up when she heard a strange chiming noise.

Small colorful clay blocks had been strung above the path. 

“They’re beautiful,” she said. 

“They’re from Sheikah,” Link signed to her, “It means we’re here.”

“Kakariko?” Zelda said, suddenly feeling nervous. It was the reason she was here…but what if it was all for nothing. What if they never forgot about where the Calamity first came from? She felt the strange urge to turn the horse around and run all the way back home to the desert to ask her mother what she should do. 

_You should keep going,_ she told herself, _you won’t know unless you see for yourself and that has never stopped you before._

“And it won’t stop me now,” she whispered out loud, “Wisdom comes from experience. Courage comes from within.”

* * *

Kakariko was both smaller and bigger than she imagined. There were few houses…but they were all so spread apart…and so _green_. She was starting to think green might be her favorite color now. 

She wasn’t sure she would fit here. Link was still short compared to the other Sheikah, but she towered over everyone…and they all looked up at her with…nothing in their eyes. 

The tongue lashing Link was receiving also wasn’t helping her nerves. He had apparently run off to look for trouble shortly after the Yiga tried to recruit all in Kakariko, then attempted to attack it. 

Well that explained what Link was doing in the desert at least, he was following trouble all the way across the world so he could try and stop it. She reached up to the apple tree above her and gave Pollo an apple. He was still as easy going as ever, and surprisingly it was so habitual it calmed her down a bit more. 

She looked around more. The houses were so different. Gerudo homes were open in a way to keep everything cool, with water running everywhere from the spring. These houses were…closed. Glass panes keeping the outside out and doors always shut behind the people going in. How were people supposed to know who was home? 

Even the crops were different. She recognized goats and carrots…but the big orange things were new. She itched to have a book open so she could re-read descriptions of plant life. She was sure it had to be in there. 

“Don’t worry, they’re almost done with Link, it will be your turn soon.” Zelda jumped at the voice. She hadn’t heard the middle-aged woman come stand beside her. The woman laughed. 

“I’m teasing you,” the woman said, “Link isn’t the type to bring spies home…and last I checked we had allies with the Gerudo. I heard it from their chief personally.”

“Are you Impa?” Zelda blurted, it was the only Sheikah name she knew. The woman smiled again, but her eyes were guarded. 

“It depends on who is asking,” she said. 

“I’m…the daughter of the chief, the Gerudo chief I mean,” she said, “Zelda.” The woman's face went blank…then joyous. Zelda found her hand trapped in a firm handshake. 

“Yes,” she said, “Yes, I’m Impa. And we’ve met before…but you were just a wee little thing then. Goodness you grew up. Don’t know what else I was expecting from a Gerudo.” Zelda found Pollo being guided off to a nearby stable and herself being ushered to the big house in the valley. 

“But…Link,” Zelda started. 

“Oh he’ll be fine,” Impa said, “They’ve at least 10 more minutes of lecture before they run out of steam. He’ll be right on time for lunch, and he’d never miss that.”

“No…” Zelda agreed, “he won’t miss a meal.”

* * *

However guarded the Sheikah were, they opened up immediately after Impa gave Zelda her implicit trust. It seemed Impa’s house was the general meeting place. People filtered in and out, some to chat with her, others to look at the Gerudo newcomer, but both times were kind. It made Zelda’s longing for the desert fade. 

Impa was so much like her mother. Her throne room was always open and she was always willing to talk, even at the worst of times. They were even the same age…and friends at one point. Zelda wondered why her mother didn’t talk about Impa as much. 

“We don’t get visitors who just visit nowadays,” Impa explained as lunch was laid out, “we used to…but things changed, Link was one. I was the other.” 

“What happened?” Zelda asked. Impa shrugged. 

“It really depends on what your mother taught you about Ganon,” Impa said. 

“She said…I was told that Ganon was once a Gerudo…and he sought out the Triforce and now holds the Triforce of Power…and is the Calamity.”

“Perfect, she told you just enough,” Impa said. Link sat up. Zelda figured this was the sign of another lesson, this time a Sheikah one. 

“Oh Link I know you can listen and eat at the same time and I had them whip up that Pumpkin Stew just for you,” Impa said. 

“Those are Pumpkins?” Zelda asked, pointing at the big orange gourd things. Link nodded, nudging one closer to her. Impa seemed content to let them eat. 

“The last time Ganon came…was hundreds of years ago. We still had a Royal Family of Hyrule,” Impa began, “The Sheikah swore loyalty to them and in return the Royals would offer us some protection from Ganon. In the past, we had given them sages, much like the Gorons, and the Rito, and the Gerudo, and the Zora. We offered up another sage, my own great-great grandmother Impa. You can guess who I’m named after.”

“But, things went wrong as they usually do,” Impa said, “the sages couldn’t hold back Ganon…and all were lost. The Sheikah stood up to Ganon as best they could, they allowed the Royals to escape…but many were lost. It was called the Great Betrayal at the time. The other Hylians in Castletown escaped, but the Sheikah had no reinforcements and died.”

“But…without the Sheikah holding him back would have killed every person in Hyrule. And they gave us time. First they let the Hero arrive, and then for the Princess to return. But the whole controversy of the Great Betrayal…it caused a schism…and has been long overdue.”

“The Yiga Clan?” Zelda asked. 

“Yes,” Impa said, “I’m guessing they made it to the desert.”

“Mother refused to ally with them,” Zelda said. 

“I hope they weren’t too much trouble,” Impa said, “we didn’t have many people to spare…you see…I am the elected leader of Kakariko,” Impa said, “But…Former Master Khoga took offense to that…and took his own followers with him, and many were our former warriors.” 

“Well…they weren’t very good if that’s any consolation,” Zelda said. 

“Against a Gerudo…I didn’t think so,” Impa said, “But Khoga believes that we shouldn’t try and stop Ganon this time around, that the Sheikah should ally with him instead.”

“You don’t believe that?” Zelda asked. 

“Of course not,” Impa said, “Ganon doesn’t care who is against him or his ally. Ganon cares only for his own lust for power. All of us are in his way.”

“How did Link made things different?” Zelda asked. 

“The hero has never been a Sheikah,” Impa said, “a child from the forest, a royal guard, just a boy from a village…but never this village.” 

"Why should that be different?” Zelda asked. 

“I thought it was a blessing from the goddess,” Impa said, “that our sacrifice meant something more. Khoga and his ilk…they thought it another punishment, another betrayal.”

“Why?” Zelda asked. 

“Because after the Great Betrayal…The Hero who held the Triforce of Courage…died fighting back Ganon.” Link didn’t look swayed by that news. 

“What happened to the Princess?” Zelda asked. 

“No one knows,” Impa said, “but she never reappeared…so it is assumed she fell too.” 

“That’s why…” Zelda faltered, “that’s why mother didn’t want me to go.” 

“You were her treasure,” Impa assured her, “she asked me what to do when she saw your mark, the Triforce…we disagreed at the time…but obviously she changed her mind. She probably changed it years ago.”

“How do you know?” Zelda asked. 

“Your name,” Impa said, “if she wanted to hide your fate, to keep you from it…she wouldn’t have named you Zelda. Zelda is the name of every girl who has ever held the Triforce of Wisdom.” 

* * *

Zelda scribbled away. Finally able to let her mind wander and work through everything that had happened. Everything she had learned. She felt Link leaning over her shoulder. 

“It’s…just a way to hold information outside of a book,” Zelda said, “some kind of slate…so I can have what I need to know all the time and not in the bottom of my pack.”

“That sounds ingenious,” Zelda sat up fast when she heard Impa behind her. 

“The Slate,” Impa said, “You have it halfway worked out.”

“Well…it will probably never happen,” Zelda said. 

“Don’t say that,” Impa said, “This is really good, have you shown your mother these?”

“Some of them,” Zelda said, "She was proud of my first inventions...but then...I couldn't make them all _and_ learn to be chief..."

“You really just need some materials to get them made,” Impa said.

“That’s always been the problem,” Zelda sighed, “It felt wrong to use things the Town needed.”

“Well I’m sure we can scrounge some things up now,” Impa said, “Something like this…it’s endlessly useful.”

“You really think so?” Zelda asked.

* * *

She felt small eyes in front of her while she worked. The game of hide and seek had paused as her banging got louder. She didn’t know where Impa scrounged up this kind of rock or this metal, but Impa assured her in wasn’t in short supply. 

Zelda suspected Impa just wanted to see what the slate looked like in her head. Zelda felt around blindly for the makeshift screwdriver. A small hand passed it to her. 

“Thanks,” she said. She turned as hard as she could, but she needed more. She needed more torque. 

“Hold this down for me,” she said. Two pairs of hands did. She turned the gears even more, until there was no more slack. She released…and nodded when they unwound slowly. It was clockwork until she could find a more sustainable power source. That could come later. She slid the polished back cover on and turned the slate over. She had to bang several times to get the wind up cog to fit in, but it was temporary for now. 

She turned over her slate. Three other heads leaned over to see too. At first there was nothing. Zelda hit it once against the table…and finally something appeared. 

“Hey it’s our house!” one of the girls said. 

“Mine too!” Zelda smiled. 

“The map works,” she said. 

* * *

Impa beamed at the map of Kakariko in the palm of her hand. 

“It’s perfect, you mapped it perfectly,” Impa said, “in three days you recreated Kakariko village.” 

“It’s a start,” Zelda said, “I wanted a walking picture book as well…but I won’t be able to make images or text on this kind of power source.”

“It’s wonderful,” Impa said, “It’s a true invention of the age.” Zelda looked up. 

“You think so?” she said. 

“Do you think I ever thought I’d hold a map of my home in the palm of my hand?” Impa asked, “Link look at this.” Link stared at it for several minutes before getting up and walking around, watching Zelda’s map move with him. He signed so fast she couldn’t keep up, but she blushed at the compliments.

“What else do you have in that journal of yours?” Impa asked, “and what are you calling this handy little thing.”

“Well,” Zelda said, “It’s not all the way done…and I’m terrible at naming things…but I was thinking…Sheikah Slate.”

“That is not a dumb name,” Impa said, “Link you apologize to Zelda right now.”


End file.
